[EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT]

Tony-award winning musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe makes its Taipei debut tonight. Director Brook Hall has changed the work slightly to suit local tastes and the show’s 13 multi-talented actors all hail from Taiwan. Performances are in English with Chinese subtitles.

The Village (寶島一村) takes a nostalgic look at Taiwan’s veteran villages through the lives of three families, from 1949 to the present day. Television producer Wang Wei-chung (王偉忠) teams up with respected director Stan Lai (賴聲川) to produce a dramatic and humorous work about the communities that did much to shape modern Taiwan.

Tickets for Godot Theater Company’s (果陀劇場) much-anticipated Chinese-language production of Shakespeare’s Othello (針鋒對決) are running out fast. The production features accomplished Taiwanese stage actors Lee Li-chun (李立群) and Chih Shih-chieh (金士傑). [See Page 14 of the Sept. 19, 2008, edition of the Taipei Times for a review of the production.]

Human Condition (人間條件) by Green Ray Theater (綠光劇團) centers on the life of a 17-year-old girl who rebels against her dysfunctional family’s listless existence. One day, the grandmother’s spirit returns and possesses her teenage granddaughter.

Highlight

The Nanwan Sisters (南王姐妹花), a trio of Puyuma singers from Taitung, appear tonight at 8pm at Eslite Bookstore on Xinyi Road (誠品信義店) for a free performance to promote their debut album, Nanwan Sisters, Honey Voices (南王姐妹花 中古美少女篇). [See Page 14 of the Jan. 14, 2009, edition of the Taipei Times for a review of the CD.]

The album, a mix of contemporary and traditional Puyuma songs, was conceived and produced by Golden Melody Award recipient Pau-dull (陳建年), who is a childhood friend of the group’s members. Pau-dull played a variety of instruments for the album ranging from the double bass to accordion and wrote half of the album’s songs in their native Puyuma language. Other selections include traditional wedding and party songs. Pau-dull, who works as a police officer on Lanyu (蘭嶼), is also scheduled to appear at the show.

▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$2,000, available through ERA ticketing or online at www.ticket.com.tw

Serenade, Dance, Intoxication — Philharmonia Moment Musical with Wang Si-ya and Giuseppe Cataldo (舞．夜．迷離 — 王思雅朱塞佩卡塔多vs 樂興之時) will showcase This Time, That Time (此時彼時) by composer Wang Si-ya (王思雅), a work for multimedia and small orchestra. The rest of the program includes Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major Op. 92. Music will be performed by Philharmonia Moment Musical (樂興之時) conducted by Giuseppe Cataldo.

▲Today at 7:30pm

▲Novel Hall (新舞台), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3-1號)

▲Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,200, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw

35th Yamaha Junior Original Concert (第35屆山葉兒童創作曲發表會) is a concert for child composers and performers. Performances will be on piano or Electone, as solo pieces or with orchestral or choral accompaniment. More information about this international event for children can be found at